Unwanted Reality
by Bittersweet Revenge
Summary: Year 6 Harry unconsciously throws himself into Death Eaters' plot to bring him down at the Malfoy residence. While trying to save himself, he falls accross Tom's malfunctioning diary and enters it, bringing him back in Tom's memories. [TomHarry]
1. Chapter 1

~Title: Unwanted Reality  
  
~Author: Bittersweet Revenge  
  
~Summary: Year 6. Harry unconsciously throws himself into Death Eaters' plot to bring him down at the Malfoy residence. While trying to save himself, he falls across Tom's malfunctioning diary. Tom/Harry slash!  
  
~Rating: PG, PG-13 later on.  
  
~Gender: Slash  
  
~Pairing: Tom/Harry  
  
~Disclaimer: I'm just playing with J.K. Rowling's inventions, of course! If another story resembles mine in any way possible, it's not my fault. In all the HP fics on this site, there's maybe going to be another Tom/Harry that looks like this one.  
  
~Extra: I've just started slashes and I would greatly appreciate advice to improve my writing! ^_^  
  
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Chapter 1:  
  
Harry Potter was in number four Privet Drive's garden, hiding behind a large and impressive group of begonias. He was laying in the dirt, looking up at the parcel of sky visible between the neighbor's imposing tree, who's branches fell limply on the other side of the fence separating both gardens. Aunt Petunia hated that tree, saying that uncle Vernon should cut off every branch that passed over the hedge, but both of them knew that if they did that, there would be nothing left of the poor oak.  
  
Harry sighed raising his head just a little to make sure no one of his muggle relatives were in the garden or poking their noses at the windows, most probably looking for him.  
  
In was almost the end of July and the weather was suffocating. The heat was intolerable and everyone used everything in their power to cool their body temperature. Uncle Vernon had even spent time looking in a pool flyer that had arrived with the mail.  
  
Aunt Marge had come to visit the previous week and hadn't even looked at Harry once. In fact, aunt Petunia had asked him to stay in his room most of the time that week, and he had gratefully accepted.  
  
He was still corresponding with Ron and Hermione every three or four days, and they were sometimes giving him little clues to what was going on. Of course, they couldn't explain what they were all doing because there was still the possibility that their mail was being checked, but at least they weren't doing like last summer and not writing anything at all. Even still, he was incredibly bored.  
  
"GET THIS OWL OUT OF HERE!" uncle Vernon yelled from the kitchen, making Harry jump three feet high.  
  
~Poor Hedwig,~ Harry though, getting up, dusting the dirt of his worn out jeans and calmly walking to the back door where a very red uncle Vernon greeted him.  
  
"GET IT OUT!" he yelled again, pointing at the kitchen with one of his stubby fingers.  
  
Harry walked through the hallway as slowly as possible and took his time to reach the kitchen, where he found aunt Petunia holding a broom, trying to whack Hedwig off the fridge.  
  
When Hedwig saw Harry, she flew off her post and tried to land on his arm, holding a package in her beak.  
  
"WE TOLD YOU THOUSANDS OF TIMES BEFORE!" aunt Petunia yelled. "NO OWLS OUT OF YOUR ROOM!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Harry said, dishonestly. "I don't know what happened . . . She never does this usually . . ."  
  
Not wanting to hear another word, both his aunt and uncle pointed him the stairs, clearly telling him to go to his room and to stay there until further notice.  
  
Harry sighed and walked away, climbing the stairs three by three and holding Hedwig carefully in front of him.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he grumbled once he had reached his room and closed the door.  
  
Hedwig hooted loudly and dropped the package she had been sent to deliver.  
  
"What?" he asked, picking up his mail. "Can't you just drop it off on the desk? The window was open, as usual."  
  
He immediately noticed that Ron had sent him the Daily Prophet with his habitual letter. He unfolded it and frowned, reading the main title. DEATH EATERS RUNNING FREE OUT OF AZKABAN.  
  
"They escaped!" Harry growled.  
  
Throwing the paper on his bed, he took Ron's letter and ripped the envelope, taking out the single sheet of paper.  
  
Hey Harry!  
  
You saw the paper? Every single Death Eater Dumbledore captured has escaped from Azkaban. Even Malfoy. Mustn't have been very hard with all those Dementors missing. No one knows where the Death Eaters, but they're surely not going to be seen any time soon. Dad told me some Aurors tried to go to Malfoy Mansion but they have no idea where it is. Some say it's bewitched, and they all have no idea how to get to it.  
  
You-Know-Who hasn't made any move yet. He wasn't even been seen.  
  
Nothing else is happening.  
  
Keep in touch,  
  
Ron  
  
Harry sighed and took the paper to read the article. Nothing very precise was told. In fact, Ron's letter was more accurate and instructive, and so he read it again.  
  
"They're not finding anything," he mumbled. " . . . Maybe . . . what if . . . What could *I* do to help out?"  
  
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I'd greatly appreciate receiving any sort of review containing any sort of criticism, good or bad. I'm here to entertain you with my writing, and so it would be nice for me to know if you like it or if you'd like improvements.  
  
Please review! 


	2. Chapter 2

Okay people! The first and second chapters aren't very interesting, I know, but please keep reading! To let the story stand on itself, I needed to start it like this.  
  
Rachel R.: thanks for your encouragements! Very appreciated!  
  
Natalie: Thanks! I will use that tip . . . but the first and second chapters are still not quite interesting.  
  
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Chapter 2:  
  
It was late in the afternoon and Harry sat on his bed, quill in hand and parchment close by. Munching on his quill's end, he tried to think. He was stuck with his muggle relatives, Ron was not giving him indication of an upcoming invite to the Burrow, and Death Eaters were on the loose.  
  
"I could run away, take the Knight Bus and hide out in Diagon Alley for a while," he told Hedwig. "And then I could find out what the Death Eaters are after . . . so I need to find them first."  
  
~Can't you stop acting like a hero?~ Hermione's voice echoed in his head, making him frown. ~Don't leave Privet Drive under any circumstances,~ he could remember Dumbledore telling him.  
  
"Well, sorry, but I need to do something about this mess," he said out loud. "Any suggestion to get out of here?" he asked Hedwig, evidently not awaiting an answer. "I could fly . . ."  
  
A smile illuminated his features as he thought of his Fire Bolt.  
  
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "I'll fly away!"  
  
Hedwig hooted disapprovingly, as if understanding what he was saying.  
  
At the same moment, aunt Petunia's voice was heard downstairs, saying that dinner was ready.  
  
"Comin'," Harry mumbled, rising from his bed and walking to his door.  
  
He walked down the stairs, down the hallway and to the dining room, where his relatives were already sitting, ready to eat an appetizing-looking shepherd's pie.  
  
"Sit down," Petunia barked, serving him a plate.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you that I was leaving," Harry said, taking a first bite of his pie.  
  
"What?" uncle Vernon asked. "I thought you were supposed to stay until your kind of people came to get you."  
  
"There's been a change of plan," Harry said coldly. "I'm leaving shortly after dinner."  
  
"That's fine with me," Dudley said, playing with his food.  
  
Harry glared at his cousin, but didn't say anything, returning to his plate.  
  
~~~  
  
After having finished eating, Harry returned to his room to make his bags. Knowing very well that he wasn't allowed to use magic out of Hogwarts, he couldn't bewitch his school trunk to bring it with him. He was forced to leave it, and so would have to come back to get it once his business was done.  
  
He took a simple backpack and stated choosing things he was going to bring with him. Muggle clothes, wizard robes, a few galleons, muggle money, his wand, the photo album Hagrid had offered him at the end of his first year at Hogwarts and the key to his safe at Gringotts, that Hagrid had finally given him as his birthday present, that had arrived the previous week because he was returning to Europe and wouldn't have the time to send it for the thirty-first. He had also sent some sort of blue compass able to render invisible things, visible. Harry decided to bring it with him too.  
  
He grabbed warm clothes, black, in order not to be seen in the night sky. He grabbed his Griffindor cloak that he quickly placed on his shoulders, and finished with his father's invisibility cloak, after verifying that his perceptoscope was turned off. He grabbed his Fire Bolt and headed for the window.  
  
"Come on, Hedwig!" he yelled, rising up in the dark sky.  
  
~~~  
  
"Remus!" Mad Eye Moody yelled, running down the hallway of number Grimalkin Place. "Remus! REMUS LUPIN!"  
  
The werewolf appeared over the staircase just as Sirius' mother started to scream horrors to them. Remus rushed to her painting and tried to shut the drapes on either side of it while Moody tried to reach him.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, once he had succeeded  
  
"The boy's gone!" Mad Eye yelled. "Left on his broom."  
  
"We need to catch him!" Lupin said, his eyes widening.  
  
"Of course we do!" Moody continued. "Tonks is waiting outside with our brooms."  
  
Lupin followed the Auror outside the enchanted building and found the woman with short pink hair waiting for them with three broomsticks, and holding some sort of compass in one of her hands. Right now, it was pointing east. She told them to hurry up and they all took their respective broom, checked that they weren't being watched and flew off the ground, straight off into the sky.  
  
After thirty minutes in a straight direction, Tonks approached their brooms as they passed under the wet mist of clouds.  
  
"He's turning north!" she yelled, as they all turned ninety degrees left, speeding up.  
  
~~~  
  
Harry, unaware that he was being tracked, was flying normally, enjoying the scenery bellow and following Hedwig who would lead him to Diagon Alley. He was just thinking about how a great idea it had been to simply get away Privet Drive.  
  
After an uncertain moment of flight, Hedwig started hooting and turning around him in circles. He turned around and noticed the three forms approaching. Of course, instead of stopping, he sped up, diving towards the ground.  
  
"I'm not going back, I'm not going back," he kept repeating, speeding up while keeping Hedwig by his side to show him the way. "I'm not going back."  
  
Soon enough, he reached Diagon Alley and had completely lost his followers, he had now recognized as Tonks, Mad Eye and Lupin, and even Hedwig. His first destination was Gringotts, and he was surprised to see how much activity there was in the building, even at night.  
  
He took off his invisibility cloak and headed for a counter behind which was sitting a goblin with rather pointy teeth.  
  
"Yes?" he asked, looking up at him.  
  
"My name is Harry Potter and here is my key. I would like to deposit this broom in my safe, and take out twenty-five galleons, please," Harry said, taking his Gringotts key out of his pocket. "Could you do that for me quickly?"  
  
"Yes, yes, of course," the goblin said. "And so no need for you to go down to your safe. Your broom will be brought down after sunrise. For the money, we give you twenty-five galleons from the main vault, and take out twenty- five galleons from your safe, after sunrise, of course, and replace it in the main vault. Please sign here."  
  
Harry took the quill he was being handed and signed the piece of parchment allowing the goblins to take out twenty-five galleons from his vault and place his broom inside.  
  
Without another word spoken, he was handed a pouch in which were his twenty- five galleons, and his broom was taken from him.  
  
"Good night, sir," the goblin said, disappearing under the counter after handing him his key.  
  
Harry walked to the main door and jogged down the not so empty street. He couldn't stay at the Leaky Cauldron since it would be the first place Mad Eye would think of going to check on him.  
  
Hedwig had finally caught up on him and was now following him from the rooftops. She hooted loudly when she saw Tonk's pink hair, alerting Harry, who started running.  
  
He turned around from time to time, catching a glimpse of his followers. They evidently didn't seem too happy. He kept on running, arrived at the end of the alleyway and turned in Knockturn Alley. He ran and ran, and finally, he recognized the shop he had appeared in at the beginning of his second year, Borgin and Bukes. He ran inside, slamming the door shut.  
  
No one was behind the main counter, not even the owner, Mr. Borgin, and so he ran through the passages until he reached a fireplace near which was a flowerpot full of floo powder. He heard the main door of the shop open.  
  
Without turning around to see if they were getting closer, Harry took a hand full of glittering floo powder and stepped into the fire. He saw Lupin arriving in front of the fireplace just as he threw the powder to the ground.  
  
"Malfoy Manor," he said, without any form of second thought as he disappeared in a puff of bright green smoke.  
  
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Did you recognize Harry's lack of common sense?  
  
The next chapter will be more interesting. It's very fun. Harry's going to have to face Death Eaters and then he will find Tom's diary.  
  
Please review! 


	3. Chapter 3

I want to thank Artemis1000, CarpeNoctem17 an d Ami G. Thank you for reviewing! ^_^  
  
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Chapter 3:  
  
Harry arrived in a faintly lit room. Once he had retrieved his glasses, he saw that the floor was of dark wood and the walls, covered by dark red tapestry. There were matching sofas and armchairs, all placed in a semi- circle near the fireplace.  
  
"Where am I?" he asked himself, getting up and brushing the soot off his cloak.  
  
He coughed a little and looked back at the fireplace, seeing that the green flame had already disappeared. There was no pot in which he could find any form of floo powder and so he was stuck wherever he was.  
  
"Am I really in the Malfoy's manor?" he mumbled, making a few steps forward.  
  
He stopped, staying silent as he examined the room more closely. The ceiling was high and some sort of chandelier was floating above him, illuminating him a little with candles doomed to die out very soon. The few windows were closed and curtains were stopping the light of day from entering. Once he got closer, he saw that wooden shutters were closed on the outside. He decided that he was logically out of England seeing that he had left Diagon Alley shortly after midnight and that it was morning outside the window.  
  
He turned around to look above the fireplace and his issue was proven. A large painting showed Lucius Malfoy, along with his wife and son. Harry was now used to moving pictures, but he still shivered when seeing Lucius' eyes blinking, looking at him sternly.  
  
To his horror, Lucius rose from the seat in the painting and marched away.  
  
*He's going to get someone!* an interior voice yelled.  
  
The Draco in the picture smirked and sniggered, watching Harry run to the door and vainly pull on the silver handle. He pulled out his wand from his pocket and aimed for the door.  
  
"ALOHOMORA!" he yelled, panicking as he heard Draco and his mother start laughing loudly in the painting.  
  
The door did not budge, and it was only then it occurred to Harry that he was stuck in a Death Eater's home, that no one knew he was there and that no one would help him.  
  
"What the hell pushed me to do this?" he yelled, kicking the door with his foot.  
  
All he could do was wait, and so he did. The portrayed Lucius came back less than two minutes later, smiling evilly as he sat back in his chair, staring at him unblinkingly this time. Harry was now very afraid of what was to come.  
  
Five minutes passed, seeming to be an eternity for him, an finally, something happened.  
  
The door opened quite violently and Harry stared wide-eyed as Death Eaters waltzed in like they would in their own home. They were wearing black robes, the same they wore in the Ministry of Magic. The only difference was that their faces weren't hidden. They were talking to each other, ignoring Harry almost completely.  
  
Harry recognized the first Death Eater as Lucius Malfoy. He still looked the same, but the Dementors had still had a bad effect on him. He seemed quite happy, and it didn't improve anything in Harry's mood. He was talking with another Death Eater Harry also immediately recognized, his heart filling with despicable hate seeing his godfather's killer, Bellatrix Lestrange.  
  
"You win, Lucius," she said calmly. "I would have never guessed he was so stupid."  
  
To Harry's incredulity, he saw her take out a small bag of galleons from one of her pockets and hand it to the second Death Eater. They had *bet* over his coming. And he had fallen right in the trap.  
  
"Thank you, dear," Lucius said, smiling ever so evilly. "But I told you his lack of common sense exceeded his bravery."  
  
"And you were right!" Bellatrix laughed, making Harry shudder.  
  
Lucius finally turned to him, staring at him unblinkingly, just like his representation in the painting had done. All the other Death Eaters stopped talking one after the other, sitting down in chairs and sofas, or simply standing somewhere, watching Harry intently and all having a proud smile plastered on their face.  
  
"Good evening, Potter," Lucius said, his voice somewhat echoing around the room. "Thought you'd drop by for tea? Or breakfast?"  
  
Harry was thunderstruck, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.  
  
"No, you won't save the world today," the Death Eater continued. "Your little friends can't reach my home like you did. I let you be an exception again by using your vocal cords as code to let you arrive by floo powder. But the floo network can't trace you down either, I made sure to that. They lost your trace half way across the Atlantic ocean."  
  
The Death Eaters laughed, making Harry's face redden.  
  
"Now, you are going to die," Lucius continued. "But I still want to give the chance to each of us here present to have the honour of torturing you to death. I still need to be fair."  
  
"You're a fool," was the only thing Harry was able to say and he immediately regretted it.  
  
"Crucio," Lucius hissed.  
  
Harry immediately fell to the ground, screaming in pain. It lasted for what seemed an eternity, his body burning in pain as if millions of knives were cutting through his skin, inside and outside of him. He wanted it to end, he wanted everything to stop.  
  
Lucius flicked his wand and muttered a spell. Everything stopped and Harry felt like his mind had stopped thinking.  
  
"Now run, Harry Potter, run your last race," Lucius hissed, moving aside and showing him the door.  
  
Harry hesitated for a moment, but his mind stayed blank. He had no choice. He rose from the floor and ran towards the door after one last look at the Death Eaters. All of them were ready for the chase.  
  
He gave one look at the hallway and started running. Turning the first corner, he turned around and saw that Bellatrix was already out of the living room, walking in his direction. The others were slowly coming out, but not all of them were following him.  
  
He jogged down a second hallway, passing many closed doors and staring portraits. He turned another corner and came face to face with a Death Eater he had never seen before. He was young, had brown, greasy hair and was of medium height. He smiled at Harry evilly and muttered a curse Harry did not hear.  
  
Before he could react, Harry felt his forehead burn and felt blood dripping on his face. He did not know what had happened, but knew it wasn't good to simply wait for another cure to hit him. Quickly pulling out his wand, He aimed it at the young man in front of him.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled. "Impedimenta!"  
  
The Death Eater froze, stunned.  
  
Harry heard someone else approaching and turned around, wiping the blood off his forehead before running off again.  
  
Long minutes passed and Harry was praying to find an exit, an opened window, a fireplace and floo powder, anything . . . anything . . .  
  
"Not so fast, Potter!" he heard a voice say behind him.  
  
He turned around to receive a cruciatus curse in the chest, thrown by Bellatrix.  
  
He screamed again, but thought that the pain was easier to bear this time. He waited it to pass and once it did, he threw the same spells he had given the first Death Eater. Bellatrix, who hadn't expected him to reply to quickly, was caught by surprise.  
  
Harry ran away, knowing that the spell wasn't going to last very long on that Death Eater.  
  
~How could I have been so stupid?~ Harry asked himself, stopping for a gasp of breath. ~This is not possible . . . no.~  
  
He felt so brainless and vulnerable he almost wanted to cry.  
  
"I'm going to get you, Potter," Bellatrix's voice echoed down the hallway.  
  
Wiping his forehead again, Harry started jogging away again. He ran for a long time, trying to hide in the shadows and desperately trying to open each door he saw.  
  
A few minutes later, he found a rather small stone door. He tried the alohomora spell and was relieved to see that it worked, making the door unlock itself.  
  
He opened it, ran inside the dark room and closed the door. Holding his wand in front of him, he whispered 'Lumos' and was soon illuminated by the tip of his wand.  
  
To what he could see of the room, he knew it was some sort of laboratory and office. Noticing all the dust, he had an impression that no one had come in for a while, and so the Death Eaters would maybe not immediately think of coming here to look for him.  
  
The shelf-filled room reminded him of Mr. Burgin's shop, in worst. Jars overflowing with wild, odorous plants, Bottles filled with disgusting fluids and dead animals, mummified shrunken house elf-heads exposed on the walls, pictures in which Lucius seemed to have locked live wizards, rolls of parchment and magic artefacts were seen absolutely everywhere.  
  
Harry, still gasping for air, made a few steps forward, looking curiously at what was exposed on the shelves, momentarily forgetting all his troubles.  
  
About ten feet from the door, he found a large desk on which papers were spread out. He took a look at what was written and frowned.  
  
July 14th . . . conference with the Dark Lord. The Giants will join.  
  
July 16th . . . more Dementors have joined. A dragon was captured.  
  
July 20th . . . Fudge has agreed. Five million galleons and Dumbledore's head in exchange of his assistance.  
  
Harry couldn't believe it. Voldemort was truly coming back.  
  
"This is mad," he muttered under his breath.  
  
Footsteps in the hallway took him out of his daydream and he started jogging down one of the rows of shelves.  
  
~There must be a portkey here . . . somewhere . . .~ he thought. ~I need to get away.~  
  
His eyes gliding on each shelf, he started finding books.  
  
~I'm too far, the magic artefacts are on the other side,~ he thought.  
  
He was about to turn around when something familiar caught his eye on one of the lowest shelves.  
  
A large trunk.  
  
He observed it for a second and knew he had seen something like it before. Before he knew what he was doing, he was pulling it in the middle of the passageway and was trying to open it.  
  
An interior voice was telling him to turn around and not waste his time, while another told him to hurry up and open the cover. He had no idea why he wanted to open the trunk, but he decided to follow his instincts.  
  
Pointing his wand at the trunk, he whispered alohomora. The chest opened and Harry's eyes narrowed questioningly. He had expected to find dark arts objects, more jars and creepy things, but instead there was . . . what seemed to be old school supplies.  
  
"What?" he exclaimed out loud.  
  
He rummaged through the books, quills and rolls of used parchment, trying to find something useful.  
  
~It's simply a bewitched thing whose only purpose is to draw people to it . . . and waste my time,~ he thought.  
  
Even though, he kept on rummaging through the very old looking transfiguration books, potion vials and History copies. He found an old racing broom and a Slytherin prefect badge, a dark arts book and more little things.  
  
"Lucius Malfoy was a prefect?" Harry asked out loud.  
  
Unconsciously, he opened one of the books, looking for a name. But the one he found didn't belong to Malfoy.  
  
The name Tom Riddle was written inside every book.  
  
"Of course!" Harry almost yelled.  
  
He rose from the ground and looked around, passing his illuminated wand on the shelves.  
  
~It's got to be here.~  
  
He jogged through the aisles, but was too nervous to search for what he was looking for. He pointed his wand in a vague direction, and yelled.  
  
"Accio Diary!"  
  
He waited a few moments and about five books came zooming in his direction. He hadn't thought of specifying 'Tom's' diary.  
  
He quickly identified the one he wanted, and saw that it looked just like he remembered it to be, with a few . . . changes. The hole in the centre of it, the spilled ink, the black cover and the yellow pages were the same, but he could clearly see that someone had tried repairing it. The pages had been somewhat arranged with something that looked like spellotape. There was more black ink blocking the puncture that had been made in the cover and it strangely looked like sticky sap.  
  
Harry opened the cover and was a bit surprised to see that a few of the pages were not at all blank, but covered in writing. Some phrases seemed to be part of previous conversations Tom had had with people that had encountered his diary, others seemed to be part of formulas he had used to make the diary, and others were simple rubbish, like if Tom's memory was feverish and was saying nonsense.  
  
Hello . . . Memorius encantem . . . I remember . . . Are you there, Lucius? . . . Basilisk . . . help me . . . A girl named Minerva Mcgonagall came to ask professor Dippet a question earlier today . . . she finished Hogwarts when I was in my first year . . . aparecium . . . That Hufflepuff named Rubeus Hagrid . . . I'll frame him . . . they won't know anything . . . I'm going to kill my father . . . they'll all regret . . . all of them . . .  
  
Harry ran back to the school trunk with the diary and searched for a quill. When he found one, he turned a few word-filled pages until he reached a blank one.  
  
-Help me,- he wrote.  
  
The words disappeared, but it took a while for a reply to come.  
  
-I'm a memory,- appeared, written in a rather curved way.  
  
-Please, take me away from here, people are after me,- Harry scribbled.  
  
-And what will I get?-  
  
-I'll find something,- Harry wrote quickly, hearing the door open and someone enter.  
  
-I'm covered in ink . . . I should get cleaned up, but I can't.-  
  
-Please Tom, I need your help.-  
  
-HARRY POTTER!-  
  
Harry was a bit surprised to see his name appear like that, but knew that Tom was angry. It was as if he was remembering that Harry had 'killed' him.  
  
-I beg you Tom, please help me,- Harry wrote down, hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer.  
  
No answer came and Harry turned around trying to see if the Death Eater was reaching him. He looked back at the diary and found an answer.  
  
-Welcome to my world.-  
  
Harry saw, just like the last time he had been brought in the diary, the pages began to blow as though caught in a high wind, and stopped on a date: the first of August 1943.  
  
The page opened like a window over the whole in the middle of it, and for a second, Harry thought the book was going to burn. His body was dragged forward and he was absorbed by the book. It was painful and Harry almost regretted to have used the diary, but he couldn't stop now. Between having a painful death caused by a mad Death Eater and entering the diary, he chose to face what was to come.  
  
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Do you like it? ^_^ I'm so excited! Tom is in the next chapter! 


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to all my reviewers!  
  
For those who noticed, I made a mistake in the last chapter . . . it's Bellatrix Lestrange, not Black . . . sorry.  
  
I don't have time to talk much, so just read on and enjoy . . . ^_^  
  
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Chapter 4:  
  
The sky was blue, and white cotton-like clouds floated here and there. The summer time was rather fresh on the Hogwarts grounds, the temperature staying between twenty and twenty-five degrees. The lake was always rather cold, but its azure surface was very inviting to any swimmer . . . brave enough to bathe with the Giant Squid. The Forbidden Forest was as silent as ever, home to more than Centaurs, Acromantulas and Unicorns. The school wasn't completely empty, even though most of the teachers were gone on their summer vacation, just like all the students . . . except maybe four or five who didn't have a home to return to.  
  
Tom Riddle was one of those students.  
  
At the moment, he was taking a walk at the border of the forest, smiling to himself.  
  
~Everything is going as planned . . . the Basilisk is staying quiet . . . that big oaf of Hagrid got expelled . . . They gave me a reward . . . I'm staying here for the rest of the summer . . . perfect.~  
  
He saw a Hufflepuff, two Griffindors and a Ravenclaw also staying for the summer, relaxing under a large willow close to the lake's shore and changed direction in order to avoid passing near them. He all noticed them stop talking and look in his direction when they saw him coming, but pretended not to. He raised his head and lost his smile, giving them a strict and serious look.  
  
The quadroon rose from the ground and with one last look in his direction, headed for the school, making Tom smile evilly in their backs.  
  
He continued walking between the forest and the lake, until something caught his eye, just past the edge of the forest. A shadow was moving, walking.  
  
"Hey you!" Tom yelled, pulling out his wand. "Stop! Stop right there!"  
  
Seeing that the person was either deaf, either not listening, Tom sprinted forwards and pointed his wand at the form still walking, now almost running in the forest.  
  
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Tom repeated, shouting loudly.  
  
The figure turned in his direction, wobbled for a moment, as if it was going to fall to the ground, but it stayed standing. Tom discerned a wand in the person's hand, and saw that it was pointed in his direction. He didn't take any chance.  
  
"STUPEFY!" he yelled.  
  
The figure was knocked off his feet and projected into the forest. Tom walked towards it, keeping his wand close by.  
  
To what he could see, the boy in front of him was quite shaken, not just by the spell he had just thrown at him. He had black hair, like him, and he couldn't quite discern the color of his eyes, though he esteemed they were green. He was shorter than him but was the same age, had a bag over his shoulder, wore glasses and dusty wizard traveling robes. His forehead was bleeding and Tom could almost discern an odd scar under the blood that was coming from another wound, probably caused by a spell.  
  
The boy looked flabbergasted to see him.  
  
"Tom?" he said. "Oh no, come on. Not now. Please."  
  
Tom stayed silent, wondering whom this stranger could be.  
  
"Excuse me . . . do we know each other?" he asked, without lowering his wand.  
  
The boy stayed silent, looking at him strangely. He looked unsure of himself, yet confident, which was an odd pairing.  
  
" . . . you tell me," he finally said.  
  
Tom looked at him for a long while and thought there was something familiar with him, though he definitely couldn't remember where he had last seen him. It was like if he was standing in front of a childhood friend he had almost completely forgotten. But it was impossible . . . he hadn't had any friends at the orphanage.  
  
"Your name?" he asked, wand still in the air.  
  
"You . . . you don't know?" the boy said, slowly getting to his feet. "Harry . . . Harry Potter."  
  
Tom did find the name familiar, but did not say so out loud. He regained his serious look and glared at him.  
  
"Well, Harry Potter," he said in a rather strict way. "Are you aware that you have broken school rules? The forest is out of bounds, and you were in it. In fact, I don't even recall you being on the list of students having permission to be here this summer. In what house are you in?"  
  
"Wha-? . . . Griff- euh, I . . ." Harry mumbled. "I . . . listen Tom, I don't really understand what's going on. In fact, you're freaking me out. Just get me out of here or something . . . or at least let me go to the library, I could discover what's gone wrong with the book and-"  
  
"That's it, you're seeing the headmaster," Tom said, rolling his eyes. "And try to talk to him clearly before he sends you to Saint Mungo's."  
  
Before he knew what was happening, Harry felt Tom lower his wand a little, grab his arm rather tightly and start pulling him towards the school.  
  
He didn't say anything, looking at the school in awe. It was exactly the same as he had known it, maybe a little cleaner, but otherwise, exactly the same.  
  
"Come on," Tom said, visibly annoyed.  
  
Harry followed him inside the school he knew so well and arrived, some moments later, in professor Dippet's office.  
  
"Good evening, professor," Tom said solemnly. "I've found someone trespassing in the forest. He tells me his name is Harry Potter. The rest of his speech was rather . . . incomprehensible."  
  
~No need to talk like I'm not there,~ Harry thought.  
  
"Well, Mr. Potter," professor Dippet said, removing his glasses from the end of his nose. "Please explain youself."  
  
"Well . . . I'm here to be a student," Harry said. "My situation is . . . euh, rather hard to explain. I just arrived here like that . . . and then Tom found me . . . but I have no idea what happened."  
  
"He's been hit on the head, professor," Tom interrupted. "Maybe it caused a concussion. Should I bring him to the hospital wing?"  
  
"Yes, yes, you do that," professor Dippet said, giving the impression to Harry that he didn't care about Harry's situation one bit. "He will become a new student then. What did you say your name was?"  
  
"Harry Potter, sir," Harry said, finding that this headmaster wasn't worth a lot.  
  
"Yes, and in what year are you?" professor Dippet asked lazily.  
  
"I'm going in sixth," Harry answered.  
  
"Fine then," the headmaster continued. "You will sleep in the Hufflepuff tower with the rest of the students staying here this summer until the Sorting Hat decides in which house you will be."  
  
"But I already know I'm in Griff-" Harry said, interrupted by Tom who pulled his arm, indicating him that the talk was over and that he needed to follow him again.  
  
Harry was pulled all the way to the other side of the school to get to the hospital wing, where the school nurse, a certain miss Swifton, gave him a long lecture about not getting into fights. Harry repeated that he hadn't been in one, but she didn't want to hear a thing.  
  
She was a short woman with curly blonde hair slowly turning gray and brown eyes. She looked like the kind of grandmother children liked to have, and Harry had to approve that she was a very good nurse, seeing that his wound stopped bleeding and the ache disappeared in a matter of seconds after she had tend it.  
  
Harry noticed that Tom had waited at the door the whole time, ready to bring him back to the Hufflepuff tower. Harry said that he would prefer walking around than directly going to the tower.  
  
Tom simply rose his shoulders, hands in his pockets and walked away head up high.  
  
Harry let him go without another question, wanting to get away from him as quickly as possible. Being with a young Voldemort felt very strange to him.  
  
He immediately headed to the library where he found a new librarian sitting behind Mrs. Pince's desk. She was reading a copy of Witch Weekly and paid no attention whatsoever to Harry's entry.  
  
She had straight black hair tied in a tight bun, and yet looked very young. She didn't have any glasses, her skin was rather pale and she wore simple black witch robes. Harry noticed something odd with her eyes, though he couldn't see them clearly.  
  
"Excuse me, could you tell me if you have books about magical diaries or preserved memories?" Harry asked.  
  
The librarian looked up and Harry almost made a step back. Now he knew exactly what was up with her eyes: the color of her pupil was red.  
  
"Yes, of course I have," she said ever so normally, a smile on her face. "But they're in the restricted section and you don't have the permission from a teacher to go in there."  
  
Harry shrugged.  
  
"But we're in summer . . ." he said, trying to find a reason that would allow him to get the information he wanted.  
  
"Well yes, but the rules still apply through July and August," the librarian said, smirking.  
  
"Fine, I'll go see the headmaster," Harry said ~He's so dumb he'll probably immediately accept.~  
  
~~~  
  
"Yes, yes," professor Dippet said, removing his glasses from his nose once again. "Magic diaries and memories?"  
  
"Yes, professor," Harry said. "I'd like to learn more on the subject."  
  
The professor took his quill and a roll of parchment and started scribbling Harry's note while mumbling things like ~I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to learn about that' and 'must be a good student'.  
  
Harry returned to the library with his note and handed it to the librarian with a huge grin. She took one look at it and smiled.  
  
"Very well," she said. "Just one moment, please."  
  
The librarian, called miss Modesty Barker as professor Dippet had informed him, had been practicing the dark arts since she was twelve, and had had a quite nasty encounter with a Basilisk quite a while ago. No one exactly knows what happened, but the Basilisk in question was found dead and miss Barker had obtained red eyes. The headmaster had also told Harry that she was sometimes sent on special missions by the Ministry, though preferred remaining a simple librarian for now.  
  
Miss Barker came back with three books. The first was entitled 'Magical Diaries and how to Make Them', the second was called 'How to preserve a memory' and the third one was 'The perspective of memories seen through the eyes of the beholder'.  
  
"Thses are the ones I think that will interest you must. Your name?" Miss Barker asked, pulling out her wand to imprint his name on her list and in the book.  
  
"Harry Potter," Harry said, seeing his name appear in purple ink on her list and in the book.  
  
"Thank you, have a nice day," miss Barker said, returning to her copy of Witch Weekly.  
  
Harry walked away from the library after giving that strange librarian one last look. He crossed a Ravenclaw student on his way and asked her the way to Hufflepuff tower.  
  
The student, a tall seventh grader with long auburn hair and green eyes named Emily Silverstone, showed him the way and gave him the password before walking away towards the Great Hall.  
  
Harry found the Hufflepuff tower quite easily. It was hidden behind a large tapestry representing a green dragon being fought off by centaurs in a large wooden area, probably the Forbidden Forest.  
  
Harry had done just like Emily had told him to do and had pointed his wand at the tapestry. He had muttered the words 'Here to stay all summer long', and the dragon in the tapestry had moved, pulling the tapestry sideways to reveal a passageway.  
  
Harry immediately saw that the room had not only Hufflepuff colors, but also Ravenclaw and Griffindor. It seemed that the students staying during the summer time had all come together in this tower, bringing their colors with them.  
  
Harry wondered why there were no Slytherin colors and the two Griffindors, that had been in the room when he had entered, had answered that it was because no Slytherin students were staying during the summer.  
  
"But where is Tom Riddle staying?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, *him*," the Griffindor named Felix said. "He stays in the Slytherin house."  
  
"He's a prefect, so he's allowed to keep his room, and of course, he didn't want to lower his status to be with us," the second boy, Silvian, said. "I'm telling you, he's the worst Slytherin I've ever seen. He's not more evil than the others or anything, it's just that he thinks he's superior to everybody because he has good grades and that he figured out who was the one trying to kill muggle-born students last year. A real prick."  
  
"Oh," Harry had simply answered, walking away to a table close to an open window to read his books in peace.  
  
He started with 'The perspective of memories seen through the eyes of the beholder'.  
  
'Preserved memories cannot be destroyed without demolishing or damaging the object, usually a book, in which it has been preserved. They are made by blending the memory to the object thanks to very complicated spells, and cannot escape its 'remembrance condition' unless it is given a mind of its own. If it has, it can be treated as a person without real body and could become more than a memory by absorbing the life of the one using it or her. This is why preserved memories with separate state of minds are considered very dangerous.  
  
Dangerous they are, but they can also be very useful to their creators. If their creators die, these memories could 'bond' outside of their object and kill the one using them, steal their life force and become their creators. Because they are, after all, a part of their makers.  
  
When a memory becomes a real being, the object that carried them is considered useless. If, on the other hand, the object is damaged or destroyed before they have the chance of completely transferring out of it, they are destroyed.  
  
Once the object is destroyed or damaged, the memory has no great chance of recovering without the help of its fist maker, that will need to transfer another part of his memories to it in order for it to continue its 'existence'.  
  
Other scenarios picture people that are dragged into the memory itself and trapped into the object. These people can only return to reality by the help of the source of the memory, the part of the maker's mind. If, for example, someone is dragged into the memory's object when it is malfunctioning, there is a problem. If the book or other object is destroyed, destroying the memory with it, the being dies with it.  
  
When the memory is malfunctioning, it might have a certain loss of remembrance and forget who the person he has allowed to 'visit' him. The person must then make the memory remember him without exactly telling him that he is a memory. Remember, memories that are malfunctioning might not even remember that they are not real persons.  
  
Ever worst, their memory becomes their world where time passes just like in real life. Hours, days, months and years pass and if the being dragged into the memory does not return to the real world and time, it can die because it is not in reality. The memory, on the other hand, can live on forever.'  
  
Harry didn't feel very good. In fact, he was now very scared.  
  
He needed to go back.  
  
He needed Tom to remember him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I know I'm repeating myself at the end of all my chapters but . . . what do you think??? ^_^ 


	5. Chapter 5

My Internet broke down . . . I'm back now . . . I'll be updating from school . . . I'm now able to read stories . . . that's good. ^_^  
  
Thanks for everyone who reviewed, it's very appreciated, and if you have any reading suggestions, please tell me! ^_^  
  
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Chapter 5:  
  
Harry was nervously pacing one of the hallways in used wizard robes he had been given when Tom came passing by. He froze when he saw Harry and straightened up before walking up to him.  
  
"What do you want?" he asked. "Now you feel like finding the Hufflepuff tower?"  
  
"No, no, I found it already," Harry mumbled.  
  
"Well then, what is it?" Tom asked, crossing his arms in front of him.  
  
"I was just wondering . . . euh, if you . . . remembered me," Harry muttered, avoiding looking at the Slytherin's piercing eyes.  
  
"No, I don't know you," Tom said exasperatedly. "Now do you mind? I have better things to do."  
  
"Come on, Tom!" Harry begged. "Just try-"  
  
"And I would appreciate if you stopped calling me as if you are on familiar terms with me and that I'm supposed to know who you are," Tom interrupted strictly.  
  
Harry watched Tom walk away, deciding that his task was going to be a little harder that he imagined. He needed to talk to Tom and seriously catch his attention to be able to stay around him so he could remember that he was a memory and that Harry was stuck inside his diary.  
  
Harry sighed and turned around, walking away.  
  
Just as he was about to change hallway to go back to Hufflepuff tower, He noticed that professor Dippet and miss Swifton, the nurse, were both running in an opposite direction.  
  
"Where is Tom?" professor Dippet asked, seeing Harry.  
  
"He went that way . . ." Harry answered, now seeing the headmaster and the nurse running in the hallway he had showed them.  
  
Curious, Harry decided to follow them.  
  
They walked pass the owlery, pass many closed doors, and finally, after running through at least eight hallways, they stopped in front of an empty classroom.  
  
Tom was in it.  
  
"Tom! Quickly! Follow us!" the headmaster said, running off again.  
  
Tom jumped off the desk he was sitting on and followed them just as Harry did. After a while of jogging, Harry saw that Tom was getting more and more hesitant in following them, and he soon saw why.  
  
They were heading for the girl's bathroom in which the passageway to the Secret Chamber was.  
  
"Look!" the headmaster said, pushing open the door without stepping through it.  
  
Tom was holding his breath as he walked forward, closely followed by Harry who couldn't help but be interested.  
  
Sobs could be heard inside the bathroom and they were only too familiar to Harry's ears.  
  
Moaning Myrtle.  
  
Tom walked inside towards the toilets, and saw the ghost form of the girl that had died two months ago.  
  
"Its Myrtle," Tom said to the headmaster who finally stepped in, gawking at the sight of the ghost form of the girl that had died at the end of the previous year.  
  
"Great mother of Scots," Harry heard the nurse mutter under her breath.  
  
Myrtle was looking at her hands, making them go through the nearest wall and sobbing uncontrollably each time.  
  
"I . . . I . . . I'm a GHOST!" she wept.  
  
"There's nothing to be depressed about," a familiar voice said from the other end of the bathroom, someone that had evidently arrived before Tom, Harry and the headmaster.  
  
Harry made a cautious step forward to see who had spoken, and his jaw dropped when he saw a younger Dumbledore sitting on a toilet cover, watching Myrtle understandingly.  
  
"It's okay, Armando," he said. "I'll talk to her."  
  
The headmaster nodded and showed the boys that they could leave. Tom walked out first, Harry still following him.  
  
Once they were at a good distance, Harry decided to try something.  
  
"Good they didn't know that they were right above the Chamber of Secrets, hun?" he said normally.  
  
Tom froze and his face lost all its colours. He turned to Harry, staring at him for an explanation.  
  
"What?" he said dryly.  
  
"You heard me," Harry said casually, still walking. "I said good they didn't know they were above the Chamber of S-"  
  
"Silencio!" Tom whispered, pointing his wand at Harry, immediately making him lose his voice.  
  
He made a step forward, glaring at Harry evilly.  
  
"The Chamber of Secrets is a myth," he said seriously. "It wouldn't be wise to go talk about that after what just happened. People might get scared and I assure you that if you go around scaring people, I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell. Understood?"  
  
Harry smiled, knowing the real reason of his panic. Tom raised his wand and muttered the counter curse.  
  
"And what makes you think we were near the Chamber?" Tom continued.  
  
"So you do declare that there is a Chamber," Harry said, unable to avoid playing with the young Voldemort's temper.  
  
"No I don't!" Tom said angrily.  
  
"Tom, I know the entrance is in that bathroom," Harry said. "I know because I've been in it."  
  
"Of course you have," Tom said, rolling his eyes.  
  
Harry smiled.  
  
"The little snake under the sink," he simply said, making Tom's eyes widen.  
  
"No," Tom said nervously. "But that would mean . . ."  
  
"I know about the basilisk."  
  
Tom was speechless. He just stood there, looking at Harry with mild fascination until he regained his composure.  
  
"One word, Potter, just one word, and I order it to kill you," he said dangerously. "And I'll make sure Hagrid gets a death sentence for it."  
  
Tom turned around and walked away, leaving Harry in the middle of the hallway. But he turned around before turning the corner.  
  
"And remember, Potter," he said. "Stay away from me."  
  
Harry didn't move a long time after his departure.  
  
~That went well,~ he thought, banging his fist in the wall, regretting it afterwards.  
  
~~~  
  
Time passed in the school and Harry decided that it would be best to follow Tom's advice and stay away from him. Anyhow, he couldn't have even talked to him if he wanted because Tom simply disappeared from breakfast to dinner before hiding in his room for the rest of the night.  
  
Having him to remember him was proving to be a much harder task than he had imagined, but he quickly found an excuse to be in his presence during the third week of August . . .  
  
~~~  
  
"Professor Dippet, I'm not sure where to go to get my new school supplies," Harry said innocently.  
  
"Ah, yes," the old headmaster said, nodding his head. "Diagon Alley . . . I'm sure one of the students could accompany you . . ."  
  
"Did Tom Riddle get his things?" Harry asked with the same naïve tone.  
  
"Ah . . . no," professor Dippet said. "Yes, both of you could go next Monday . . . and I don't think Silvian got his things either, but his uncle is going to take him next week . . . yes, well next Monday, boy."  
  
"Thank you, professor," Harry said, smiling widely.  
  
~~~  
  
"I have to go with *you*?"Tom said incredulously over dinnertime after Harry had announced him what was going to happen.  
  
"Yep," Harry said, smiling a little yet trying to hide it.  
  
Tom sneered, looking at him with utter dislike.  
  
"Be ready at six in the morning on Monday, ready at the gate or I'm leaving without you," Tom said finally, unable to not impose anything.  
  
Harry nodded and walked back to his place.  
  
Tom looked at him go, sighing. He took a bite of his steak, chewing it slowly, looking at Harry from the corner of his eyes. After a while, he noticed that Dumbledore was looking at him intensely from the teacher's table. He sighed again, knowing that his transfiguration teacher had a careful eye on him. He knew something was wrong and Tom was scared he would find out that he was going to the Chamber of Secrets every day. He needed to stop going and it devastated him.  
  
~And that boy who knows everything . . .~ he thought. ~He's a menace.~  
  
He needed to find out about him.  
  
Tom ate slowly, passing ideas through his head. He saw the other students leave one by one until Harry left with the two Griffindors he found completely foolish. They were talking about taking a walk outside while it was still clear.  
  
~What a good idea,~ Tom said to himself, smiling.  
  
~~~  
  
Tom quickly finished eating and swiftly walked out of the Great Hall, heading for the Hufflepuff common room.  
  
~The Ravenclaw is at the library with that mindless Hufflepuff,~ he thought. ~Coast is clear.~  
  
He entered the Hufflepuff common room using the same code all the other students used and immediately walked up to the dorms.  
  
He found Harry's four-poster bed quite easily, seeing that it was the only one that didn't have a trunk displayed in front or house colored drapes. There were only a few things laid out near his windowsill, and so it is there Tom looked first.  
  
He didn't discover much but found a couple of galleons, the old muggle clothes he had arrived in . . . and three school books. Tom looked at each cover with curiosity.  
  
~He's learning about preserved memories?~ he thought. ~But . . . why?~  
  
He quickly read a few pages here and there, getting more and more curious about the strange boy's motives.  
  
Hearing footsteps outside the dorm room, he decided to get away as quickly as possible.  
  
Luckly, he wasn't seen when crossing the common room, the Hufflepuff named Suzanna and Emily the Ravenclaw both directly having gone up to their dorm room.  
  
Instead of returning to the Slytherin common room, feeling too alert to sleep, Tom headed for the library where he found miss Modesty Barker. He smiled interiorly.  
  
The advantages of having this typical librarian was quite fun for him seeing that she stayed in the library very late, letting him finish his research and reading far after midnight. She had even let him eat in the library during his previous O.W.L.s because he didn't want to leave his place of study.  
  
Of course, he had been afraid that she would find out about the basilisk, having fought one herself -or as the stories told-, but or she pretended not to know, or she simply had no clue, which was fine with him.  
  
He nodded in her direction and directly headed towards the Restricted Section. The first thing he looked up? Preserved Memories, of course.  
  
~~~  
  
Seeing that is was Saturday, Harry woke up late the next morning and directly headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. He ate in silence, not really wanting to talk with the two Griffindors that were starting to annoy him, always talking about Quidditch moves or school stuff he already knew about.  
  
He was surprised to see that Tom didn't come to eat and vaguely started looking for him after telling Silvian and Felix that he wasn't interested in playing Wizard Chess.  
  
He found Tom around noon, slouched in an armchair in one of the studies on the fifth level.  
  
He looked tiered, holding his head with one hand, flicking his wand in the air with the other. Books were laid out in front of him and a notebook had been almost completely used.  
  
Harry walked up to him and sat in the chair next to the one that was in front of him, watching him write his name with gold flames. He didn't move to show that he had noticed the newcomer's arrival.  
  
Harry didn't say anything, watching Tom write and erase his name over and over again.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Tom asked finally, as if hypnotized by the tip of his wand.  
  
Tom  
  
"I . . . I just passed by and saw you there," Harry said.  
  
Marvolo  
  
"Really," Tom continued, completely indifferent. "And so you must be or stupid or deaf or naively brave, seeing that I told you to stay away from me."  
  
Riddle  
  
"I really don't understand your antisocial attitude," Harry said a bit dryly.  
  
I  
  
"Maybe I could make it clear with a curse," Tom said in the same impassive tone.  
  
Am  
  
"I don't see why you dislike me so much," Harry replied.  
  
Lord  
  
"You *are* a fool," Tom stated. "But I'm going to warn you again, one last time, Potter. Stay away from me. I don't want your company."  
  
Voldemort  
  
Tom stared at what he had just written. Harry was thunderstruck when he saw what was happening.  
  
"How interesting," Tom whispered, looking at the new words he had formed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
In the next chapter, Tom and Harry get their school stuff, Tom starts getting ideas, the school year starts with a couple of odd surprises for Harry who now needs to get into Tom's circle of friends.  
  
Man, this fic is fun to write. ^_^  
  
Give me a free present and review! 


	6. Chapter 6

So for my reviewers . . .  
  
Moon Fairy2: Your review is the present! ^_^ So thanks! The romance is going to come pretty soon I think . . . after Harry gets to enter Tom's circle of friends.  
  
Wanderingwolf: LOL! I know! ^_^ But I hope you like it!  
  
Morgan: Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I got scared people wouldn't really read a Tom/Harry, but you prove me wrong! ^_^  
  
JadeDawn: LOL! Thanks! And I will try to update faster. It's just that I have so much homework -_-  
  
Kionala: Thanks!  
  
Lina Inverse the Dramata: Yeah, I like making Harry look stupid ^_^ The Tom/Harry will come in a little while! Patience is a virtue! (I don't have it, though) ^_^  
  
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Chapter 6:  
  
Tom quickly erased the letters when he saw Harry looking at him that way. He rose from his place, picked up his books and walked away as quickly as possible, before Harry could say or do anything else.  
  
Harry didn't move for a while, simply watching the area where the letters had spelled the Dark Lord's name . . . well, Tom's name.  
  
He sighed and rose from his seat, slowly walking towards the exit.  
  
So this was how Tom had figured out his name spelled 'I am Lord Voldemort'. He shook his head. Tom was becoming evil even through his defective memories.  
  
"This is so strange," he whispered to himself, watching his feet as he paced through the empty hallways.  
  
He passed statues he didn't remember seeing in his time, classes he thought didn't exist and rooms that weren't supposed to be there, and it only made him know that he didn't belong here. He wanted to go back to his time, to see his friends, to go back to school where Voldemort couldn't get him.  
  
~In theory, I'm safe here,~ he said, smiling. ~Tom doesn't know me . . . doesn't remember me.~  
  
His smile disappeared, remembering that it wasn't an especially good thing.  
  
~Tomorrow e'll be an opportunity to get closer to him,~ he thought. ~Maybe I'll get him to open up a little bit.~  
  
~~~  
  
"You're early," Harry mocked, leaning on the wall near the Great Hall, at five thirty on Sunday morning.  
  
Tom glared at him from the stairs, his hand gliding down to the pocket in which his wand was.  
  
"You're very, very lucky," he hissed. "Lucky professor Dippet has an eye on you. And no, I'm not early. I have a pet to feed."  
  
Harry's face lost its colors as Tom walked away through another staircase, evidently going to the girl's bathroom in which the passageway leading to the Secret Chamber could be found. He was going to feed the Basilisk.  
  
Harry pushed the thought out of his head and started turning in circles.  
  
~He'll stop going when he sees Dumbledore has an eye on him,~ he thought. ~But when, exactly? And Am I going to be able to make him open up to me?~  
  
Unanswered questions ran through his head for the next thirty or so minutes, until Tom came back.  
  
Harry simply stood there, watching him, waiting for him to say something. The only problem was that he didn't.  
  
Tom simply walked towards the door, Harry thinking that the only solution was to follow him. They walked through the grounds, pass the Forbidden Forest, the lake and the Quidditch field, pass the cot that was going to become Hagrid's hut in the nearby future, and finally arrived at the train station. Tom, who still hadn't said a word, walked through the bridge and it is only there he turned around to see if Harry was still following him. To his exasperation, he was.  
  
Harry didn't really feel like talking so he simply kept on following the Slytherin through Hogsmade, until they arrived in front of the shop that was going to be Zonko's joke shop in the future. A the moment, it looked like a souvenir boutique.  
  
"Hum . . . what are we doing here?" Harry asked timidly.  
  
Tom rolled his eyes.  
  
"Ever heard of Floo powder?" he said, a bit sarcastically.  
  
Harry really felt like saying a bad comment about his remark but decided not to do so, remembering that he did want to get on the young Voldemort's good side.  
  
"Well we're using it to get to Diagon Alley," Tom continued.  
  
Harry followed him inside the shop called 'The traveler's stop', where they easily got to use the fireplace, after Tom showed the tiered owner the note the headmaster had given him.  
  
"Quite 'early to get yer' school supplies," he said, his accent making Harry think of Hagrid. "The stores only open at eight, anyhow."  
  
Tom waved his hand, as if pushing that comment away, and marched into the fireplace, a handful of floo powder in his right hand.  
  
"Diagon Alley," he clearly said, throwing the powder to the ground.  
  
Harry waited a few seconds before doing the exact same thing.  
  
He appeared right in the middle of Diagon Alley, in front of a very large fireplace wizards were one by one entering and exiting. Tom was already on his feet, brushing the soot off his robes.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" he asked impatiently. "Get up!"  
  
Harry obeyed, grumbling complainingly.  
  
He followed Tom through the small crowd gathered around the fireplace and saw that there wasn't anyone else in the alley this early in the morning. He saw that the people in front of the fireplace were evidently functioning for the Ministry of Magic and were simply going to the bank before going to work.  
  
Harry caught up with the young Voldemort and walked by his side all the way up to Gringotts. He saw that the interior hadn't changed one bit and that the goblins were just as grumpy.  
  
"Yes?" the one in front of which Tom had stopped said from behind his little counter.  
  
"Tom Marvolo Riddle would like to withdraw a certain amount of money in order to buy his school supplies," he said, as if he had memorized that whole phrase since he had left school.  
  
~Does he often speak in the third person?~ Harry thought, sniggering interiorly.  
  
"Of course, of course," the goblin told Tom, taking the key he had just deposited on the counter. "Oarlock!"  
  
A second goblin came trotting forwards.  
  
"Take mister Riddle down to his safe, please," the first said.  
  
Tom walked away, following the second goblin, completely ignoring Harry that just stood there in front of the goblin's counter. He turned to him embarrassedly.  
  
"Hum . . . my name's Harry Potter?" he said tentatively, trying to see if the goblin would have a reaction.  
  
He didn't and just stared at Harry through his rectangular spectacles.  
  
"I have an account here," Harry said. "Well, I did before . . . euh . . . I don't have a key, though."  
  
The goblin sighed.  
  
"FLACKLEY!" he yelled at the other end of the room.  
  
Another goblin came walking forwards, this one being young and probably inexperienced.  
  
"Look in the lost and found," the first goblin told Flackley. "His name is Harry Potter."  
  
Harry decided to follow Flackley and ended up in front of a counted behind which were plies and piles of objects of all sorts. Hats and books, clothes and bags of galleons and many, many other objects all having a white tag with a name and number.  
  
Soon enough, Flackley came back.  
  
"We did not have time to go down to your safe, mister Potter," he said. "Would you like to retrieve your things now?"  
  
"What?" Harry asked, not understanding what the goblin was telling him.  
  
Instead of answering, Flackley slammed an object on the table. He immediately recognized it as his Firebolt.  
  
"What is it doing here?" he immediately asked, grabbing it to see if it was real.  
  
"We didn't have time to bring it down to your safe," the goblin said. "We had a jam in the dividing section. Everything you see there was supposed to be brought down to safes in the lower levels. But all the goblins supposed to do that are on strike."  
  
"But I thought no goblin was allowed to go into other people's safe," Harry said, frowning.  
  
"Yes we are, when we have their signed permission, of course," Flackley said. "And we have yours."  
  
Harry saw the paper he was holding and recognized it as the one he had signed in the real world.  
  
~What the hell is going on?~ he thought. ~How come my safe exists? How come I have my Firebolt?~  
  
"C- . . . can I pull out some money?" he asked.  
  
"Yes but you can't go down to your safe. The section in which your safe is, is closed down because of the strike. Other goblins are brining back things in that section," he said, pointing at the pile of objects behind him. "you'll need to sign this paper and write down that you are taking out the amount of money you want. We'll take the money out of your safe later, and we'll give you the bank's money."  
  
"Okay," Harry said, writing down his name on the paper and that he wanted to withdraw 50 galleons.  
  
Flackley gave him the money and took the paper away and told him that he could go.  
  
Eyeing his broom and his bag and money, Harry sighed. Things were getting complicated.  
  
~~~  
  
Tom was very surprised, but tried to hide it, to see that Harry had managed to get money.  
  
"Where did you get that broom?" he immediately asked.  
  
"Hum . . . my godfather gave it to me. He makes brooms and he gave me one to test," Harry said. ". . . What broom is the fastest, up to date."  
  
"I'll show you," Tom said, walking towards the Quidditch supply shop.  
  
Harry saw a Thunderblast displayed in the shop window.  
  
"It was made three years ago and is still the fastest model," Tom said casually. "I have one."  
  
Harry observed it for a moment but was pulled out of his daydreaming a few moments later.  
  
"Here is your list," Tom said, handing him a sheet of paper. "Go get your potions instruments. I already have mine. I'll go get my books and I'll meet you there."  
  
"O-okay, Tom," Harry said, walking away.  
  
Tom had stiffened when Harry had called him by his name but had immediately started walking away, shaking his head.  
  
Harry waited a good fifteen minutes before the salesman arrived to open the door of the shop.  
  
"First customer of the day," the old man had said. "What can I get for ya?"  
  
Harry had showed him his list and had bought the best potion cauldron, powders and test tubes, liquids and plant extracts.  
  
At the end, he had used 5 galleons, sixteen sickles and five knuts. A lot less than what he would have paid in the real world, and so he deducted that the prices were lower in the past.  
  
Harry didn't find Tom in the bookshop and so proceeded to buy his books without him. He then got a new telescope for astronomy class, tea leaves for divination, dragon hide gloves and a coat for herbology, a new uniform set and a couple other things.  
  
It was around eleven and he still hadn't found Tom and was starting to wonder if he had left without him.  
  
~That could be possible,~ Harry thought.  
  
But right then he saw the young Dark Lord come out of Knockturn Alley, placing a book in his already full school bags.  
  
Harry ran up to him.  
  
"Where were you?" he asked.  
  
Tom looked annoyed.  
  
"I waited for you a long time and you never came so I went to buy the rest of my things alone," he said coldly. "I could report this to Dippet, you know."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'm the one that waited for you, Tom," he said. "And what were you doing in Knockturn Alley, anyways?"  
  
Tom's face lost its small colors.  
  
"I wasn't in there for my sake, Potter," he snapped. "I was looking for you. Since you never came to Diagon Alley before, I'm sure you could have walked right in there."  
  
Harry shook his head, knowing that he was lying.  
  
Tom sneered and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Come now," he said. "We're going to the Leaky Cauldron."  
  
Harry followed him to the brick wall, watched him tap his wand against the right bricks, opening the passageway. He followed him inside and found it exactly the same way he knew it.  
  
"A butterbeer," Tom asked at the counter.  
  
"One for me too, please," Harry added.  
  
They waited in silence for their drinks to come. The bartender gave them two uncapped bottles and went back to his business.  
  
"So, who are you, really?" Tom asked. "And don't lie."  
  
"Then don't ask me that question," Harry said slyly.  
  
To his surprise, he saw the young Dark Lord's lips form a smile.  
  
They finished their drinks in silence, both staring in front of them. Finally, Harry turned around and inspected the rest of the bar. It was empty, some chairs still being on top of tables, and a lady was passing a mop on the floor.  
  
"Hey, let's go in the muggle world!" Harry asked excitedly.  
  
Tom gave him a look and sighed.  
  
"What's the point?" he asked.  
  
"I just want to see! Come on!" Harry said. "Well I'm going and what would Dippet say if I got lost or hurt there when you were drinking here?"  
  
Tom glared at him.  
  
"Fine, I'll go with you but don't you EVER try to threaten me," he hissed, making shivers run along Harry's spine.  
  
Tom lazily got up and asked the bartender if he could keep an eye on their bags as he paid for his drink. Harry left ten sickles and two knuts on the table and headed towards the door.  
  
"Potter!" Tom said. "Take your cloak off!"  
  
Harry looked down at his clothes and decided that it would be a good idea, and so took off his wizard's cloak, just like Tom did.  
  
He stepped outside and was momentarily blinded by the strong luminosity the sun was giving. He felt Tom close the door behind him and started walking.  
  
He walked and walked, passed at least four to five streets, looking at what the stores were displaying and the people that passed him. Their clothing style was very different.  
  
"Let's go back, Potter," Tom said. "You're going too far . . . hum . . . wait here a moment."  
  
And Tom walked away before Harry had time to ask where he was going. He waited five, ten, fifteen minutes before seeing him come back, manipulating a black book he had just bought. He slipped it in his pocket when he reached Harry's level.  
  
"Come on, let's go," he muttered, walking back towards the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
Frowning, Harry looked around and saw a sign saying that Tom had just come from Vauxhall Road. Somehow, he knew that mean something.  
  
~I heard that street name before,~ he thought. ~But where?~  
  
He followed Tom, eyeing curiously the pocket he had placed the black book in.  
  
~THE DIARY!~ he thought. ~Vauxhall Road was the name of he place he had bought it!~  
  
~~~  
  
The trip back to Hogwarts was silent, as Harry thought of what was happening. Tom had bought a diary, and so was thinking of placing his memories in it. He had a safe at Gringotts, even if he wasn't supposed to. He had his Firebolt with him, but he had placed it in his safe before going to the Malfoy residence. What was going on?  
  
Back at the school, Harry did not see Tom until the first of September, in the Great Hall. Tom was sitting at the Slytherin table with many other Slytherins, and he was up front, just as professor Dippet had asked him, ready to place the sorting hat on his head.  
  
~I'll be in Griffindor and getting close to Tom will be even harder,~ Harry thought. ~Why do I have to go through all this? I just want to go home!~  
  
He didn't listen to what professor Dippet was saying until it was his turn too try on the hat, after all the first years had passed.  
  
He sat on the stool and felt the sorting hat being placed on his head. A few seconds passed but he didn't hear any voice talk to him.  
  
~Hello?~ he thought. ~Sorting Hat?~  
  
But not a sound was heard. To his horror, he heard what the hat yelled.  
  
"SLYTHERIN!" he said.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
There you go! ^_^ Many other surprises awaits him but I didn't want to fit others in this chapter.  
  
Please tell me what you think! Review! 


	7. Chapter 7

JadeDawn: haha... I always get sorted in Slytherin in online tests too. And I'm sort of laying back on the homework. I write at home and when I arrive at school the next morning people now hear me say the same thing over and over: *Can someone pass me their math homework?!*  
  
SweetSuzanne: Thanks! I hope you like the rest too!  
  
He mele no lilo: I'm glad you like it!  
  
Sarah R Potter: Thank you!  
  
Ms Tom Riddle: Thanks for telling me about 'Bound'! I read the whole thing and I really enjoyed it! There are so few Tom/Harry that it frustrates me. I can't wait to read your story!  
  
Lady Phoenix Slytherin: Thank you! And I'll try my best to update more frequently...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Chapter 7:  
  
Still quite flabbergasted, Harry made his way to the Slytherin table, feeling every student staring at him. He walked directly in Tom's direction and simply stood in front of him with a dull, almost ashamed look on his face.  
  
"I thought you would have been unswervingly placed in Griffindor," Tom said, not quite looking at him. "At least it was there I thought your foolish and overly-bold self belonged."  
  
Harry simply stood there, almost staring at his feet, wondering if he should walk away to the other end of the table or sit down next to him.  
  
Tom sighed and shook his head.  
  
"Sit down!" he barked in a low voice.  
  
Without speaking, Harry did what he was told and sat in the only available place next to Tom. He stared at his plate, wondering what was happening.  
  
~This memory is defective,~ he thought. ~It makes mistakes, it does what it wants . . . this doesn't mean I'm a real Slytherin . . . I'm a Griffindor . . . I'm a Griffindor.~  
  
"Hi," he heard the person sitting in front of him say.  
  
He looked up and saw a boy his age with a suntanned face, blue eyes and auburn hair smirking at him.  
  
"You're name's Harry Potter?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah," Harry answered, wondering if he really should socialize with people that belonged in the house he despised.  
  
"I didn't see you on the train," the boy continued. "Did you stay here during the summer?"  
  
"Yes," Harry simply said. "I arrived at the beginning of August."  
  
The boy was about to say something when a girl arrived behind him. She had dark red hair and eyes just as blue as the boy's. Hands on her hips, she stared at him questioningly.  
  
"Erh . . . this is my twin sister, Audrey," the boy said, designating the girl that had arrived. "Audrey, this is Harry Potter."  
  
"Are you related to the Auror?" the girl immediately asked.  
  
"What?" Harry asked.  
  
"Nothing, it's just I heard about an Auror named Elisabeth Potter on the news the other day. Said that she did something for the Ministry."  
  
"Hum . . . no, I don't know her," Harry said tentatively, taken aback by this girl's statement.  
  
"It's okay if you're scared, she does that to people," the first boy said, smiling to Harry as he received quite a strong blow in the back of the head.  
  
"Just scoot over, Alex," Audrey said, jumping over the bench to sit next to him.  
  
Harry turned to Tom and saw that he was talking silently with a dark haired boy sitting on his left that also seemed to be a sixth grader.  
  
He turned back to Alex and Audrey, finding something familiar with them.  
  
"We went to Mexico," Alex was saying to another Slytherin. "Bloody hot down there, I'm telling you. Audrey had a heatstroke at least five times."  
  
By then, food had appeared in the plates in front of them and Harry simply watched as Audrey served herself some salad.  
  
"We moved too," she was saying to a blonde girl. "Dad found a nice home just outside London. He says we're going to live there and not in Dublin anymore. He says he's getting sick of Irish muggles."  
  
Harry shook his head, glanced in Tom's direction and started eating, minding his own business until the young Voldemort started talking with Alex at the end of the supper.  
  
They said a few words about their summer, classes and teachers before Tom and many other Slytherins rose from their seats and walked towards the exit, just like students from the other houses.  
  
"Hey, Audrey, Alex," Harry said finally. "What's... what's your last name?"  
  
"Evans," Audrey said casually. "Alexander and Audrey Evans."  
  
~~~  
  
Getting over the shock that he had met people that were most probably his ancestors, or something like it, Harry rose from his seat when he saw Tom had disappeared. He rushed out of the room just in time to see the Slytherin turn a corner down a staircase to his left.  
  
~I need to find him, I need to talk to him, we need to become friends, I need him to remember, this is getting way out of hands, this is like reality,~ Harry repeated to himself, searching for Tom down in the dungeons. ~Where is he? I'm sure he went down this hallway...~  
  
He was definitely lost but was sure he had seen the young Voldemort pass by here. He finally spotted him at the other end of a hallway.  
  
"Tom!" Harry panted, running after the Slytherin. "Tom, wait up!"  
  
Once he had caught up with him, Harry had the surprise of being grabbed by the throat and shoved against a column on the wall.  
  
"Potter, I supported you over the summer, but now you're going too far," Tom hissed coldly, not loosening the grip he had around the boy's throat.  
  
Harry's face was already red and he was starting to miss air. Tom let go just in time, letting him fall on his knees, coughing madly.  
  
"Got it?" Tom said loudly.  
  
Harry heard step coming forwards. His head still rather heavy, he looked up and saw numerous boys standing by Tom's side.  
  
The first had blond hair and blue eyes and immediately made Harry think of Lucius Malfoy. The second was brown haired, tall, well built, wore frameless glasses and had silvery gray eyes. He stared at Harry with curiosity while the third one, Alexander Evans, smiled widely.  
  
"An apprentice?" the boy with the glasses asked Tom. "Do you think he's... hum... able to do this?"  
  
"He's not a tyro," Tom hissed in the same angry voice. "He's a simple imbecile that keeps following me around."  
  
The blond boy laughed.  
  
"Maybe we should give him a lesson, Riddle," he mocked, passing his long fingers on his wand.  
  
"Yes, maybe we should," Tom said, sniggering. "He's messed with me one too many times... *flagrate*!"  
  
Harry didn't have the reflex of pulling out his wand but threw himself sideways. He turned around and saw a large X on the spot where he had been sitting. The mark would have burned him and probably left a permanent scar on a good part of his right arm.  
  
"*Incarcerous*!" Tom yelled.  
  
Harry didn't have enough time to react this time and, as he was backing up, the spell hit his legs tying them up instantly. With a flick of his wand, Tom made him be pulled back towards them.  
  
As the blond boy was about to mutter another spell, Harry pulled out his wand, and used it.  
  
"*Protego*!" he said, shielding himself from the blond boy's spell. "*Finite Incantem*!" he added, stopping the effect of Tom's spell and so getting rid of the ropes cutting the blood flow in his legs.  
  
He jumped to his feet under Tom's amused gaze.  
  
"He reacts faster than the others, no?" Alexander said.  
  
"Definitely," Tom said. "Let's see if he can do better. *Impedimenta*!"  
  
Harry went flying into the wall behind him but quickly got to his feet.  
  
"*Petrificus Totalus*!" he yelled.  
  
"*mobilicorpus*!" Tom immediately said, moving one of his cronies in front of him.  
  
The boy with the glasses received Harry's spell right in the chest. He fell to the floor with a large thud that made the whole hallway shake as Tom started laughing.  
  
"Nice, Potter!" he said, raising his wand once again. "Now to finish, try this! *serpensortia*!"  
  
Harry almost smiled as a thin black snake appeared in front of him and made his way up to his legs.  
  
"Come here, little one," he said, using snake language.  
  
The snake froze for an instant, staring at Harry with its gleaming red eyes before making it's way up to the boy's outstretched hand. It curled up in his palm, red tongue poking out if it's thin lips at regular interval.  
  
Harry looked up at the young Voldemort. He had a shocked yet curious look on his face. Harry definitely didn't have time to react as he spoke two simple words in Parceltongue, ordering the snake to bite him.  
  
Harry looked down but the snake had already sunk his two little fangs in his wrist. He yelped out in pain as a freezing sensation seemed to flow through his veins.  
  
"Impressive," he head Tom say out loud. "You're really not bad, Potter. Too bad you get on my nerves. I'm not giving you the antidote for that snakebite you got there. You'll have to go up to miss Swifton, the nurse. She'll make you some antidote, of course. But it will take a great part of the night. You'll have to endure the pain until morning."  
  
"I've endured worst already, Riddle," he hissed, feeling the freezing cold in his veins be replaced by burning heat.  
  
He saw Tom smile, looking at him intensely with his dark eyes. He then promptly turned around and muttered a counter curse to free his friend from the petrifying spell. The boy in question got to his feet without a word, brushing the dust off his robes. Alexander Evans picked up his broken glasses and fixed them with a spell before handing them back to their owner.  
  
"Hopefully for you, we won't see you around," the blond boy that made Harry think of Malfoy said, turning around and following Tom and the others.  
  
Harry cursed, rubbing his bitten wrist. The snake had disappeared but the waves of burning heat and freezing cold kept running through his veins in a terribly unpleasant way.  
  
~~~  
  
He went directly to the hospital wing and was pleased when the nurse simply told him to lay down, without asking further questions. He suffered all night, watching the nurse prepare his antidote.  
  
When she finally finished it and made Harry drink a whole glass of it, he was cold, sweaty and exhausted. All he wanted to do was find a bed and warm covers and sleep, but he already needed to return to the Great Hall to eat breakfast and start his classes.  
  
It felt so strange to him! He was not in reality, he was in the pack of crumpled, dysfunctional memories of a crazy psychopath that was taking the shape of a sweet, intriguing boy that Harry was getting more and more curious about.  
  
~I wonder how much time passed in real life,~ he thought as he walked towards the Great Hall. ~Is Dumbledore worried? Are they looking for me? Do they have the faintest idea of where I am?~  
  
Harry quickly made his way up to the Slytherin table and sat down, noticing that Tom and his group had not arrived yet.  
  
"Hello, Harry," a voice said behind him.  
  
Frowning, he turned around and recognized Audrey, the girl he had vaguely spoken to the previous night and was maybe related to.  
  
"Hi," Harry simply said, noticing that a small pack of girls were standing around her.  
  
"Mind if we join you for a moment?" she asked.  
  
"Euh... n-no, not at all," Harry stuttered.  
  
The four or five girls followed Audrey and sat in front of Harry.  
  
"This is Florence, Diana, Annabella, Beatrice and Constance," Audrey vaguely said, talking about them like they were all the same person and were only part of the background.  
  
Harry returned the multiple forms of greeting that were addressed to him and turned back to Audrey, seeing that she obviously wanted to ask him something.  
  
"Did you really fight Riddle?" she asked in a hushed tone.  
  
"I didn't mean to," Harry quickly said. "It was just a misunderstan-"  
  
"Why do you even hang around him?" Audrey persisted. "He's not the kind of guy you follow without his personal authorization."  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, suddenly interested.  
  
"Seeing that you spent the night in the hospital wing and that you weren't surrounded by his 'associates' when you entered, I immediately deducted that he had given you a lesson. If you mess with him again, I'm telling you, you'll be in the hospital wing for a long while. It happened with a seventh grader that teased him about having a muggle father. Riddle was only in second year and sent him to Saint Mungo's. I reckon he's still there."  
  
"And he wasn't expelled?" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"No one had a decent proof that he did it, you see," Audrey said agitatedly. "I can tell you're a good lad. Stay away from him."  
  
"I can't," Harry said sorrowfully. "I can't explain why but I need to get close to him."  
  
Audrey didn't look very surprised by his answer.  
  
"And I bet you want a little advice?" she said, not waiting for an answer. "You need to go up to him and tell him you want to become a tyro. You'll need to take his answer how it comes."  
  
Audrey and her not very smart looking friends rose and quickly walked away, leaving Harry speechless.  
  
Harry waited for Tom and his 'associates' to arrive and settle down before finally gathering the courage to go up to him, praying it wasn't going to be an unreceptive conversation.  
  
He rose from his seat and walked towards the little group.  
  
"Hello, T-... Riddle," Harry said, catching the young Voldemort's attention. "I... can I stay with you and your friends?"  
  
There was a moment of awkward silence at the table. Tom looked pleasantly unaffected by his statement, Alexander seemed somewhat happy, having a wicked smirk on his face, the one with the glasses kept eyeing Tom to see his reaction and the boy Harry had officially dubbed 'the Malfoy' was ready to laugh, running his fork through the leftovers in his plate.  
  
"Stay with us?" Tom repeated. "What, you're suicidal?"  
  
The Malfoy and the boy with the glasses laughed silently, looking away, but Alexander just watched. Harry didn't reply, waiting for a true answer... that wasn't close to coming.  
  
Tom stared at him.  
  
"I'll have to think about it, Potter," he finally said. "You'll have my answer by tomorrow."  
  
"Okay," Harry muttered, turning around and walking at the other end of the Slytherin table.  
  
He ate in silence, throwing indirect glances in Tom's direction. He had left his plate and was having a hushed conversation with his three henchmen. They were obviously talking about him.  
  
And he had to endure it a whole day. In all his classes, the group was whispering, looking at him in the most unpleasant way.  
  
~~~  
  
He was walking on the school grounds the next day when Tom and his group caught up to him and circled him.  
  
"Okay, Potter," Tom said, smiling nastily. "I decided you seem fit to be in my group... but don't think you're entering my circle of contacts that easily. You'll have to pass a trial. A couple of tasks, if you prefer..."  
  
Harry stared at him, dumbfounded.  
  
"And I'm telling you know, there will be no mercy coming from me," Tom hissed menacingly. "If you really want this, you'll have to pass the trial... and it's no piece of cake."  
  
"You underestimate me," Harry said, smirking. "Bring it on."  
  
Tom smiled, visibly satisfied.  
  
"Be behind the Quidditch Pitch podiums at midnight for the first task," Tom said before turning away, walking back towards the school. "And don't chicken out. This is your only chance."  
  
But Tom didn't know how hard Harry intended to go back home.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
= About Alexander and Audrey Evans: I was thinking the other day, remembering that the Blacks were all put in Slytherin, except for Sirius who went in Griffindor. I was just thinking that maybe Lily could have some pureblood ancestors that were in Slytherin, but that she was different and placed in Griffindor instead. I know Lily was a mudblood but you know how it could be . . . her parents weren't wizards but maybe one of her grandparents, or something like that . . . I don't know, I just liked the thought of having one of Lily's ancestors in Slytherin and in Tom's crowd.  
  
= First small slashy thoughts in the next chapter! And I've got an interesting first 'challenge' for Harry too... 


	8. Chapter 8

Well... let's just go on with the story!  
  
Chapter 8:  
  
Harry had found out that he was sleeping in a dorm with four other Slytherins, one of them being Alexander Evans. The three first ones were sleeping and snoring loudly while doing so, Alexander was missing and Harry was just staring at the clock in front of him, watching the needle slowly tic its way to midnight.  
  
"I want to go home!" he moaned silently. "These are just memories, but they seem so bloody real..."  
  
Unable to sit in place, Harry jumped to his feet and contoured his bed a few times, eyeing his Firebolt lying calmly on his bed sheets.  
  
He was debating if he should bring it or not, knowing that if their meeting was behind the Quidditch pitch, they might as well use brooms, and decided that he could leave it hidden on the grounds halfway to the rendezvous' location. If he needed it, he would summon it, if he didn't, he would pick it up on his way back.  
  
Unable to wait any longer, he decided that he could get there early and wait outside. He grabbed his broom and wand and headed towards the door. He climbed up a flight of stairs and arrived in the empty, dimly lit common room. On his way to the exit, he noticed a long sheet of parchment laying on one of the nearby tables. He walked to it and eyed what was written on it.  
  
Mr. Harry Potter,  
  
Do use the passage through the painting of Salazar Slytherin to your left, it reaches outside much quicker than making the gargantuan detour of crossing the whole school to reach the main entrance, and anyhow, you would probably be caught by the caretaker, an insomniac bastard that prowls the hallways all night.  
  
Sincerely hoping you are sly enough to do this,  
  
Alexander Evans  
  
Harry smiled. Maybe certain Slytherins were not that bad, he thought. And he was maybe related to this one! He took the piece of parchment, folded it and placed it in his pocket before walking to the empty portrait of Salazar Slytherin. The founder of this house of Hogwarts was obviously occupied somewhere else.  
  
He swung the portrait sideways and met some sort of wooden trapdoor, which he arrived to open easily. The corridor he entered was cold, dark and humid. He lit his way with his wand and started walking. It took him a good fifteen minutes before arriving to what he thought was a dead end. It was only when he was ready to head back, thinking Evans had played a joke of bad taste on him, that he heard a small voice, asking him whether he was off to the dungeons or outside.  
  
Harry turned around again but saw nothing.  
  
"Who's there?" he asked.  
  
"Me," the small voice answered. "Look up."  
  
Harry did what he was told and noticed that the ceiling seemed higher at this spot. Raising his wand to illuminate it, he saw that under all the dust and uncountable spider webs was a portrait. The wooden frame was rotten and certain colors around the borders had faded or been replaced by some sort of moss the humidity had brought. In the center though, was the painting of the prettiest little girl Harry had ever seen. She smiled widely.  
  
"What are you doing there?" the ex-Griffindor asked, very surprised.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about me," she said. "I've been here for a very, very long time, but it's a long story. Just tell me if you wish to go to the dungeons or outside."  
  
"Outside," Harry answered.  
  
"You will have to press your wand on the seventh brick of the second row on the wall in front of you, then," she said. "To go outside, take the first to your left. If you continue straight ahead, you will end up in the dungeons. Be careful to not get lost in there!"  
  
Harry thanked her and did what he had to do for the passage to open. He then started walking again.  
  
He soon met a divergence of paths, one going left, one going right, and another continuing its way towards what he had been told were the dungeons. About to turn left, he heard something.  
  
"... it burns, it hurts, it bleeds... tears of pain and waves of anger... it aches... the pain... the pain..."  
  
Soon enough, he started perceiving distant screams. Without a second thought, he headed towards the dungeons, following the sounds of pain. He realized that the words he had heard had not been pronounced but hissed in Parceltongue. And the only other Parceltongue in Hogwarts at that precise moment was Tom Marvolo Riddle.  
  
The screams were starting to get louder and louder as he got closer to him. When he finally arrived where the screams were being created, he jumped back in horror.  
  
Yes, Tom was there, crouched on the floor in the middle of the path, illuminated by a few torches attached to the walls. Behind him were two colossal doors on which was engraved one monstrous snake, mouth opened and tongue slithering in and out as its yellow eyes blinked from time to time, staring at the young man at his feet. Tom's wand was a few feet away from him, but he wasn't looking for it. Instead, his hands were covering his face from where blood was dribbling to a gigantic crimson puddle that surrounded him.  
  
"TOM!" Harry screamed out, rushing to the young Voldemort's side, dropping his broom in the process.  
  
He arrived at his level, touched his back and leaned forward, feeling way too concerned for his liking. There was something about seeing Tom helpless and weak that made him incredibly troubled and edgy. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't supposed to be this way at all.  
  
The Slytherin froze for a moment and then, as quickly as humanly possible, grabbed Harry's neck and slammed him to the ground, on his back, under him. His wand quickly retrieved into his other hand, he was ready to cast a spell to harm, maybe even kill the one that had seen him and called out his name.  
  
But he froze, recognizing him.  
  
At the same time, Harry had grabbed with both hands the one that had such a tight grip on his neck but had stopped seeing Tom's eyes, from where tears of blood were flowing freely. His pupil was no longer black. It was red. As red as he remembered the Dark Lord's eyes to be. Two pools of burgundy, staring at him with what seemed to be now, relief.  
  
"I... I locked the basilisk in..." he whispered.  
  
"Tom... your eyes... I need to bring you to madam Pomfrey... I mean, madam Swifton..." Harry said, gawking at his eyes that now hid all feeling, like they usually did.  
  
"NO!" he screamed out, backing away from Harry. "Are you crazy? They'll all get suspicious, they'll know it came form a Basilisk's stare," he said, rubbing the blood strains off his face.  
  
"How did this happen?" Harry asked, getting to his feet.  
  
"I had to lock the Basilisk in because Dumbledore was keeping an eye on me," Tom said. "But... there was an accident... he looked at me... but... wait a minute, what are you doing here?"  
  
Tom suddenly backed away, wand in hand pointed in his direction.  
  
"I heard you use Parceltongue," Harry answered. "I was going to use the passage way to go outside... to wait for you... behind the Quidditch pitch, remember?"  
  
"Why did you even bother?" asked Tom, frowning, unable to understand why he seemed to be concerned about him.  
  
"To care wouldn't be on your list of good answers, hun?" Harry barked, suddenly aggravated by his constant state of suspicion towards not only him but also the rest of the world. "It doesn't seem to be a word of your vocabulary."  
  
Tom used his sleeve to wipe his eyes, his wand still pointed in the other boy's direction.  
  
"Oh, how I know I should kill you," he whispered. "You know too much about everything. What the hell am I waiting for to do it? Not even I know. Now just... Get lost! Leave me alone!"  
  
Fuming with anger, Harry turned around, marched to his broom then continued his way backto the passage he should have taken in the first place.  
  
What a loathsome, uncaring, insensitive, mistrustful man! Harry thought as he stomped away. Why do I take the time to care? He doesn't need anyone to do so! He doesn't let anyone do so!  
  
"I hope it's unnecessary for me to say that I'll completely disfigure you if you say a word about all of this, right?" he heard Tom scream from the other end.  
  
Harry growled for an answer.  
  
Once he had disappeared, Tom summoned water with his wand and cleaned his face.  
  
What a strange boy, he thought. Why does he seem so... close to me? What is it with him? Why the hell was I glad to see it was him that had found me once again? It doesn't make any sense. I don't know what to think of him. He's so... so present. No one has ever done anything like him around me.  
  
With a little luck, Harry did not get lost and found his way back to the crossing of paths, one of which led him right out of the castle. The fresh air did him good, especially to calm down after what had happened with Tom.  
  
He made his way up to the Quidditch field, making sure to pass behind bushes and trees in order not to be seen from the castle windows. Passing the entry gates, he entered the empty field, suddenly feeling very small. He could see very clearly the stars, spots of brightness in a see of obscurity.  
  
A smile formed on the Boy Who Lived's lips. He could almost hear the crowd in the podiums from back home, in his cherished reality.  
  
I'm truly getting homesick... its incredible...  
  
"Hey!" a few voices called out from the other side of the pitch.  
  
Harry couldn't see them because they were in the shadows of the arena but knew it had to be Tom's posse. And he was right, since once he had crossed the field, he saw all the people he knew hung around the future Dark Lord. He was thankful to have brought his broom because all the people present had brought theirs.  
  
The boy that Draco looked like was polishing his broom while the one with brown hair and glasses just stared at Harry, having evidently not forgotten that he had cursed him and broken his gasses. A new face was there that night. He was of medium height and was rather thin. His face was bony and a nasty scar ran from his left eyebrow to the middle of his cheek. Alexander and Audrey were disusing not too far away and were not paying attention to Harry whatsoever.  
  
Tom arrived less than ten minutes later in robes that were not blood- stained and looking as fresh and dispose as he always did.  
  
"Riddle!" exclaimed the boy with brown hair and glasses, catching everyone's attention. "Your... your eyes!"  
  
"Yes, I know," Tom said, annoyed. "Shut up."  
  
There was a moment of silence as Harry looked from the group of students that were starting to gather up to Tom, who simply stood there.  
  
"I guess a little introduction is on order," Tom grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Luther Malfoy to my left along with Mattrim Rufus, Scott Whyte and Alexander Evans with his sister Audrey Evans to my right."  
  
Harry nodded to each student, receiving the same gesture by Malfoy and Rufus but a little wave by both Alexander and Audrey.  
  
"You didn't see Whyte around because he was in detention for having placed curse-jars under numerous seats aboard the Hogwarts Express," Tom explained. "But we're not here to discuss about that."  
  
"My task," Harry agreed, staring into his eyes, trying to show him he was determined and unimpressed by him.  
  
"Yes," he acquiesced. "The first one will be relatively simple and will most likely not take too long to do. You will all play a game of Creaothceann."  
  
It took a moment for Harry to register what was going to happen, and when he did, he lost his determined look quite fast.  
  
"But that game was made illegal in 1762, wasn't it not?" Harry asked, a bit panicky.  
  
"Yes," Tom answered evilly. "But are you willing to take the risk?"  
  
Harry glared at him.  
  
"Yes I am," he said. You underestimate my abilities on a broom.  
  
Tom's friends looked a little surprised, but mounted their brooms in silence, watching Harry do the same.  
  
Harry had read about Creaothceann in Quidditch through the ages. Each player wore a cauldron strapped to the head. At the sound of a horn or drum, up to a hundred charmed rocks and boulders that had been hovering a hundred feet above the ground began to fall towards the earth. The object of the game was to catch as many rocks possible.  
  
"Now, these buckets will hover magically over your heads, instead of cauldrons doing so," Alexander said, giving each person present, save Tom, a wooden bucket he had brought. "The rocks will disappear in the bucket and will count as one point that will appear on a chart. And we are not going to use big rocks either, they wouldn't fit in the bucket. Instead, all the rocks will be the size of a fist and will fall much faster. It will be much more enjoyable this way!"  
  
"Oh yes, and I hope everyone knows that there aren't any rules," Tom hissed, eyeing Harry for half a second before turning away. "On your brooms!"  
  
All placed the buckets over their head and it rose a few inches above them, staying there.  
  
"Ready?"  
  
Harry suddenly became aware of the incredible multitude of rocks that were floating from one hundred to two hundred feet on top of them.  
  
"Get set..."  
  
He was sure some sort of powdery dust was surrounding the rocks.  
  
"GO!"  
  
Harry pushed off the ground and rose much faster than all the other players. He looked up and just had the time to make sure his head was right under the bucket before hundreds of rocks collided with his body, many falling in the bucket.  
  
The other players were zooming around, making sure rocks kept falling into their buckets. The rocks did not stop falling, continuing to zoom towards the ground but disappearing a few inches above it. Harry ignored the pain all the rocks falling n him were giving him and started chasing the rocks.  
  
Just imagine all of them being snitches... that's all... I can make it... I can make it...  
  
Out of the blues, Scott Whyte pushed Harry over, nearly making him fall off of his broom.  
  
Harry sped up and decided to look for spots where more rocks seemed to fall. They weren't very evident, but they existed. He didn't stay in the same spot very long, knowing that Whyte was trying to scare him off by pushing him and making sure he wasn't concentrating on catching rocks.  
  
Scratched and bruised, he kept on catching rocks, using speed as his main weapon seeing that all their brooms couldn't do what they Firebolt did.  
  
He had the impression that all the other players were going in slow motion, trying to tackle him down or bump into him as often as possible. He was certain many hexes had been sent his way too.  
  
He tried catching rocks in the bucket, avoiding the other players and they hexes and looking out for the others that would hurt his body but he couldn't do so many things at once, and so he often felt pangs of pain in his back and on his arms from the projectiles falling onto him.  
  
The game ended. The rocks stopped falling and disappeared. All the players rejoined the ground, bruised, battered and aching with pain.  
  
Tom looked over at the chart then at each player.  
  
"Okay," he said disdainfully. "You win this task, but don't be so sure you'll win the next one. And you only won because of your speed."  
  
Harry smiled widely, feeling a rivulet of blood tickling down his temple, result of one of the many wounds given by the rocks. His glasses were cracked and he needed to fix them.  
  
"Well I still won. Goodnight," he said. "I guess you're going to tell me when is the next task when you'll be ready for me."  
  
He turned around and started walking towards the castle, proud of his achievement. Tom just glared at his back for a moment as he vaguely excused his associates.  
  
Thinking of what happened at the Gates of the Secret Chamber made him thoughtful as he watched Harry walk away on the grounds.  
  
Maybe I should thank him... he thought.  
  
But after a second thought about it, Tom nearly slapped himself.  
  
What are you becoming, you fool? he told himself. Thanking him? Tom, you have really unquestionably strange debates today... thank him... what are you thinking...  
  
He shook his head before heading back to Hogwarts, the fresh breeze playing in his hair and meddling with his thoughts about the strange new boy that was starting to interest him.  
  
so, what do you think? 


End file.
